Bus stops are notorious for the questionable characters that frequent them. I am one such person.
What I mean is, why would I, a clean-cut white girl, be talking to two men who had just been released from the county jail on a Friday morning?
Highly questionable.
Why wouldn't I sit, staring at my fingernails, while I waited for the number 22 bus?
I don't know.
Maybe it is because homeless men and gang members are sometimes personable. Maybe it is because they, too, were created in the image of God. They, too, have an inherent dignity.
Maybe it is because when a gang member tells you, with sadness glinting in his eyes, that if he tried to leave the gang he joined when he was 13 years old they would kill him and his family, you want to be able to offer him some way out. Or maybe you even just want to offer him a listening ear.
And maybe it is because you have discovered from previous experiences that stereotypes are not often true. In fact, you have never discovered that they are.
2 comments:
It's interesting - your writing reminds me so much of both your Mom - and my husband, Rick.
When God's children love him that much, they tend to love others as well, allowing his light to shine through their words, their movements, their pen.
Keep going - this is great stuff and I hope you don't mind that I'm reading it.
Of course I don't mind! I'm glad. And thanks for your comment.
Post a Comment